Donald Trump has been telling everyone that he’s going to cut business taxes to 15% and make up the reduction in federal income by introducing a consumption tax. According to him, this will kick start the US economy and bring back well-paid jobs. He has support for his plan in the Republican House and Senate, so it’s likely to happen in some form. Trickle-Down Economics The Trump formula, at...
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2016 has been Putin’s year. He has succeeded in much of what he wants. He tells himself it’s about Making Russia Great Again. In reality, it’s about Putin himself. The Russian people are suffering and because of Putin, so are millions of others. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Putin and Russia Putin has been the face of Russia since 2000. Since then, he has...
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It’s less than two weeks before election day and it’s just been announced that Obamacare premiums are increasing significantly next year. In a normal election cycle this would have been the October surprise that could have sunk the Clinton campaign, but Donald Trump has already damaged his own campaign so much that it’s likely to make little difference to the final result. However,...
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Many politicians, especially those on the right, preach the gospel of Trickle-Down Economics. The theory is that if businesses have more money they will employ more people and therefore it is essential to reduce business taxes. Raising the income of the wealthiest in our society, they say, will make everyone better off. The trouble is there is a basic flaw in the logic of the theory: it assumes employers...
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On 1 April New Zealand’s minimum wage is increasing from $14.75/hour to $15.25/hour (US$10.29), so I thought I’d take the opportunity to do one of the posts on The Economy I’ve been promising. Whenever the level of the minimum wage is discussed, there are those who predict that increasing it will lead to mass unemployment, and even those who say there should be no minimum wage at all – to let the market...
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